This invention relates to a fanning strip and, more particularly, to a segmented fanning strip characterized by a snap fit between individual blocks in the fanning strip rather than a tongue-in-groove or keyed connection.
Typically, fanning strips are comprised of individual insulated blocks formed of resilient plastic materials such as a thermoplastic polyester. The blocks contain lugs for terminating electrical conductors of a cable for distribution to channel-mounted terminal blocks on a terminal strip. The interlocking arrangement between the colligated blocks in a fanning strip are often keyed or tongue-in-groove connections. Representative prior art of the keyed connection between individual blocks in a fanning strip includes U.S. Pat. No. 3,253,252, and representative prior art of the tongue-in-groove connection between individual electrical blocks includes U.S. Pat. No. 2,928,066. Representative prior art of a segmented electrical terminal strip into which the terminals of a fanning strip are terminated, includes U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,074.
However, all of the known segmented electrical fanning strips lack the efficient construction of the present invention which utilizes a snap fit between individual blocks which provide an easier method of colligating the blocks without the necessity of any tools or additional parts. The snap fit construction also prevents rotation between the individual blocks in the colligated fanning strip so that it is possible to establish a colligated electrical connector having any desired number of spaced electrical contacts corresponding to the particular terminal strip section in which the terminals of the fanning blocks are to be connected thereto.